


Down at the Drive-In

by agents_cxrter



Series: Please Stand By [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Date, Flirting, Jimmy is simultaneously charming af and awkward af, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but like Obnoxious Flirting, he's old-school, you can't tell me jimmy woo does not have game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:56:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29725203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agents_cxrter/pseuds/agents_cxrter
Summary: ‘A 24-hour truck stop diner off the New Jersey highway serving yesterday’s stale pie was a far cry from his usual wining-and-dining protocol, as was the eye-wateringly late time of 2am. But beggars couldn’t be choosers when you were throwing together a makeshift date while convoying your way to the airport directly after an exhausting, reality-warping case.’Jimmy might not be able to build artificial worlds, but he can at least describe the one where he takes Darcy on the first date she deserves.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Jimmy Woo
Series: Please Stand By [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2184603
Comments: 28
Kudos: 101





	Down at the Drive-In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lonelyWhale52](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyWhale52/gifts).



> lonelyWhale52 asked if I was planning to write Jimmy and Darcy's date and honestly I wasn't until they asked and suddenly this happened?

Jimmy Woo had game. He was an FBI _agent_ for goodness’ sake, he’d gone undercover, arrested world-renowned criminals and last season he’d completed a homerun that won the game for his department’s softball team. He had witty anecdotes, a cool hobby (well, he thought magic was cool) and he was sort-of friends with a freaking _Avenger_. Sure, he had a dorky side, but dorks were kind of in right now and it took lifelong experience to genuinely be one, unlike the cool guys who just pretended for the hipster-yness of it all, then reverted back to jerks once they got the girl. He wasn’t always the smoothest at the initial asking portion of the event (cough-Scott-Lang-cough), but when it came to the actual date, he never failed to be on top form. He had more than enough going for him to pick up the ladies and the gents – respectfully and with consent – to show them a great time and bring the woo. Gosh darn it, he _was_ The Woo.

Unfortunately, today he seemed to have left the woo at home. 

In his defence, this wasn’t his usual brand of date. Call him old-fashioned (and many people did), but he was a dinner and a movie kind of guy, maybe even the theatre if something good was in town. He was always punctual, held open doors and pulled out chairs, offered to split dessert and made sure to leave a good tip – service workers were the backbone of America, after all. He picked tasteful restaurants with warm atmospheres and insisted on walking his date back to their car/tram stop/home to make sure they got back safe. His job often got in the way of anything more serious than a couple of casual dates, but Jimmy Woo always made sure his potential paramours had a good time even if it was a short one.

A 24-hour truck stop diner off the New Jersey highway serving yesterday’s stale pie was a far cry from his usual wining-and-dining protocol, as was the eye-wateringly late time of 2am. But beggars couldn’t be choosers when you were throwing together a makeshift date while convoying your way to the airport directly after an exhausting, reality-warping case. It was kind of hard to pull out the stops when in a few hours he would be catching a flight that would separate him from the woman who until about forty-five minutes ago had definitely been his co-worker on some level and therefore not a suitable candidate for fraternisation, no matter how much he might have considered… _fraternising_ with her. 

All of this, combined with the fact he was so tired down to his bones, made for quite a limp first date. And the awareness that this was a rubbish date was getting in his head. Usually, he had no end of conversation starters and Jiminy Cricket, they’d just gone through the wildest shared experience but he couldn’t stitch two words together, let alone form a sentence.

At least there was coffee. He stared into the chipped mug as though it had all the answers to the universe.

A rustling noise caught his attention, then a hand slid a white napkin with a coffee splash in the corner into his line of sight. There was a single word jotted onto it in biro: hi. 

He looked over to his date guiltily. Darcy looked as tired as he felt, watching him from her side of the booth with her head resting on her folded arms. 

“Hey.”

“You’re in your head. What’s going on in there?” She asked him. “Planning world domination? Or trying to decide between the chicken or the beef for the plane?”

Jimmy sighed. “Honestly?” Darcy nodded into her arms. “I was thinking about the date I wish I was taking you on.”

“Whaaaat?” Darcy straightened up, rolling out her neck till it popped loudly. She rearranged herself into a more upright position, hand cradling her chin as she slumped against the wall. “You mean this isn’t what you had in mind when you drew a flying saucer and asked me to dinner?”

“That wasn’t- I didn’t-“ Jimmy took a deep breath, shaking off her attempts to rile him up. From her smirk, she knew she’d been successful. “Oddly enough, no.”

Darcy picked up her abandoned fork, prodding at the crumbling slice of pie they’d each had a mouthful of and then regretted immediately. “Go on then.” She prompted.

“Huh?” Jimmy didn’t know if he’d misunderstood or misheard in his zombie state. 

She broke the crust of the pie, pulling a face at its flaking texture. “Tell me the date you’re thinking about.”

“Oh, no,” He deferred. “I- it’s silly really, I wouldn’t, uh…”

Darcy fixed him with a piercing look, eyes flashing behind her glasses. “One of the last guys I dated’s idea of a first date was me watching him watch the game while I brought him beers from his fridge so he didn’t have to get off the couch.”

Jimmy gaped at her. “Darcy, you didn’t…”

She shook her head at him. “Of course not! I got outta there before even taking my coat off and when he texted to try reschedule, I sent him the bill for the gas money I spent driving to his apartment.” She smiled, a little nostalgically. “Ah, grad school. Which is why if this isn’t your ideal situation,” She gestured with the fork at the peeling wallpaper and lukewarm coffee. “I’d like to know what is. Think of it as your own little Westview, except hopefully with less trauma. I usually save that for the second date.”

That was a lot of new information for Jimmy to absorb in a very short space of time. He was tripping over the implications of a second date, trauma or no, while also finding himself very annoyed at the idiot college boys who didn’t know how to treat their partner right. 

“I wouldn’t want to presume…” He protested weakly. 

“Presume away, my man.” She twirled the fork in his direction. “I’ll interject when I need to.”

Jimmy glanced around the diner; the only other patrons were a few truckers slumped into corners looking half-asleep and the waitress who was leafing through a magazine behind the counter. He rested his arms on the edge of the table and leaned in towards Darcy.

“First, I’d ask what your favourite meal is-“

“Enchiladas.” Darcy announced automatically. At his bemused expression, she shrugged. “What? I spent a lot of time in New Mexico.”

Jimmy rested his cheek against his hand. “Okay, I’d find out where does the best Mexican food nearby and book a table for two. Maybe see if there’s anything good playing at the picture show. What kind of movies do you like?”

“Sci-fi.”

“So you can point out all the things they get wrong about space?”

“Yessiree.” Darcy quirked an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me you don’t love spy dramas for the same reason.”

“Guilty as charged.” Jimmy grinned at her. “So we’re at the best Mexican place in town.”

“Do they have good enchiladas?”

“Award-winning.” He deadpanned. 

Darcy scrunched her nose at him. “Let me guess, you’ll take my coat and pull my chair out for me?”

“You got something against me being gentleman-ly?” Jimmy protested, feeling slightly miffed she’d already guessed ahead.

“Not at all.” Darcy pushed the offending piece of pie out the way, then settled her elbows onto the table, mimicking his pose. “It’s just a little predictable, you know? What if I want to take _your_ coat and pull your chair out?”

Jimmy was pretty sure she was just being pedantic for the sake of it but he nodded. “I’d be okay with that.”

“I’m a liberated woman, you see.”

“I do see that.” 

“And as a liberated woman, I will be ordering the sharer plate of nachos, but I won’t be sharing.” Darcy tilted her head cutely. 

Jimmy shook his head at her. “Are you going on this date for me or for the food?”

“Well, you’re both just so tempting. But only one of you comes covered in melted cheese.” She licked her lips subconsciously and Jimmy focused all of his attention on not looking at her mouth. She wasn’t wearing her usual lipstick, what with it being 2am after a reality bending crisis and all, and she looked younger without it. He could almost imagine her hunched over a desk, the sleepy eyes that were now locked onto his working through scientific journals as she studied into the early hours of the morning to get her Ph. D. 

“That tracks.” He acquiesced. “I’m guessing you won’t be splitting dessert with me either?”

“Hell no.” Darcy snorted empathetically. “I will split the bill with you, though.” 

“Deal.” Jimmy agreed, taking a tentative sip of his dishwater coffee. He pulled a face at the lukewarm taste, then set it down beside the abandoned pie. “So, we see a sci-fi spy movie, go get Mexican food and then… maybe a walk?”

Darcy gave him a funny look. “Ooh, you almost had me till that part.”

“What’s wrong with a walk?” Jimmy asked defensively. 

“The part where I have to move from my comfortable seat in the nice warm restaurant with the award-winning enchiladas.” She pointed out.

“Okay, okay, but hear me out.” Jimmy set his palms down on the table. “A moonlit walk, holding hands, looking at the stars…” He raised his eyebrows at her expectantly.

Darcy blinked at him. “You want to look at the stars?”

“Yes?”

“With me?”

“Yes.”

“An astrophysicist?”

“Absopositively.”

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for him to reveal he was only kidding. When he continued to look at her in complete earnestness, her gaze turned suspicious. “You know I spend a lot of time staring at stars, right?”

“Sure.” Jimmy lifted one shoulder a little bashfully. So sue him, he found it attractive when people knew their stuff. “Who better to show them to me?” 

Darcy held his gaze for another second, then sat back in the creaking vinyl booth and fished her wallet out of the backpack on the seat next to her. Shelling out some bills, she dumped them on the table. Sliding out of the booth while running on next to no sleep wasn’t the most graceful affair, but Jimmy was too busy being confused at what he’d done to offend her to notice as she wriggled clumsily to her feet. She swung her backpack onto her shoulder and held her hand out towards him.

“Uh…” Jimmy looked from the outstretched hand to Darcy’s face and back again. 

“Listen.” Darcy said decisively. “This place isn’t a great Mexican restaurant and we binged Wandavision rather than a movie, but I can deliver on the last part.” She wiggled her fingers at him. “Come on.” 

He cautiously stood up, scooping his jacket up in one arm as he laced the fingers of his free hand with hers. 

She held their joined hands up triumphantly. “Hand-holding. Check!”

She started dragging him out of the diner, rolling her eyes as he twisted round to shout a quick thank you to the waitress despite the terrible service. That was no reason not to be polite. He jogged a couple of steps to catch up to Darcy’s determined stride, following obediently across the lot till they got to his car, a generic black SUV granted to him by the FBI when the Westview case ended up being more complicated than expected. 

“Okay. There’s your walk.” Darcy stopped and dropped his hand. He inwardly hoped she hadn’t noticed how clammy his palm had got pressed against hers. “Before we do this, I would like to clarify that my job is _not_ just looking at stars. It’s a very complex and fascinating area of study that required years of dedication and if I’d had more than five hours sleep over the last two days I’d tell you all about it and you’d be very impressed because I’m super smart. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” Jimmy nodded, realisation dawning on him. .

“Cool.” Darcy dumped her backpack on the ground and hopped onto the hood of the SUV, scooting up until her back rested against the windshield. She patted the metal next to her in invitation, a dull tapping sound that echoed across the empty New Jersey highway. 

Jimmy smiled up at her, slinging his jacket on top of her backpack and hoisting himself up to sit next to her. The cold surface of the car bled through his pants, but he shifted until he was beside her, settling back against the glass. He rested his hands against his stomach, getting comfortable before turning his gaze up to the sky.

“Yeah, in hindsight, I didn’t really think this through.” Darcy clicked her tongue ruefully as they examined the smog filled night. “I usually have, like, a telescope and stuff so…” 

Jimmy laughed into the cool night air, watching the tendrils of condensation from his breath drift up to the clouds. 

“That’s okay. This is nice.” 

Darcy rolled her head to look at him, scrunching her nose. “Figures.” She shifted a little closer. He could see the dark circles beginning to form under her eyes. “So dinner, movie, walk… what’s next?” 

“Well,” Jimmy shifted onto his side to look at her. “I’d walk you home. Right up to the front door. Make sure you get in safe.”

Darcy made an approving noise. “You gonna walk me to the airport?” She asked. “My flights in five hours, but I think we could make it if one of us suddenly developed super speed. I guess driving the same direction in separate cars is close enough.”

“Sure. This time at least.”

She smiled. “So you walk me up to my door. And then?” 

“And then what?”

She smirked at him, tilting her head coyly. “Do you kiss at the end of the first date, Agent Woo?”

Jimmy considered her, rumpled and sleep-deprived and cute as a button plus a million times smarter than he could ever hope to be. He had a feeling whatever this was and where ever it went, God willing, there weren’t going to be a lot of times where he had the upper hand. He found he didn’t mind that one bit. Still, it would be a shame not to take advantage just this once. He was suddenly feeling much more awake despite only managing to ingest half his cup of coffee earlier. Settling back against the hood of the car, he summoned the power of The Woo. 

“Well, Doctor Lewis,” He smirked. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a review for Jimmy's woo.


End file.
